What This Is
A Brunch That Gets Straight to It
Men don't talk. Not really. Not about the things that are actually taking them down.
The New West Mensdate Brunch is built around the idea that a good meal, the right room, and someone willing to go first can change that.
This is the only one of its kind in New West this year. After August 30 it carries on monthly. The stage and the lineup were for the launch. What gets built after that is the community.
The men who show up on the 30th are who it gets built around. Not an audience. The founding members.
What happens that morning is real conversation, sharp presentations, and a breathwork session that will surprise you. You'll practise the tools right on the spot, and leave seeing you hold the steering wheel on every conversation you have.
Seats are limited. Show up, take part, say yes to something that isn't easy, and you start something this city doesn't have yet.
What You Can Expect
Real conversation about the things that actually run a man's week. Relationships and where they get stuck. Saying what you mean without it turning into a fight. What being a dad asks of you. How your health and your sleep have already set your mood before you've even had coffee.
You're in it, not watching it. Pull up a chair with a guy who's dealt with the same thing and talk it through right there, while it's fresh.
No man carries it better alone.
You'll laugh. Probably more than you expect. You'll learn things you wish someone had told you years ago. And you'll walk out lighter than you walked in. All of it. One morning.
The Lineup
Who You'll Hear From
Men who've been through it and don't mind saying so. Nobody up there is talking about men like a case study. You're in it with them. And you'll leave thinking about things you've never had the right words for, with a few you can use before the week is out.
Jhöl Unger
Founder, The Mensdate Project
Jhöl is your host for the day. Author and men's mental health consultant, he'll be with you from the first cup of coffee to the last conversation, sharing stories from his own life, the lessons that came out of the hard ones, and the reason this work exists. He leads most of the morning himself. Up close. Personal. In a way any man in that room can find himself in.
Jake Sawatzky
MP, New Westminster—Burnaby—Maillardville
Meet Jake
Jake is our Member of Parliament, and he is not coming to this as a politician. He was in men's mental health before he was in politics, and he is part of the work on the national strategy for boys and men's mental health. He is on stage with Jhöl for an interview, then he stays for brunch, man to man, questions and all. What gets said in that room he carries back to Ottawa, where the policy actually gets written.
Ray runs on two anchors, his family and his relationship with God, and he'll tell you about both without flinching. He won't hand you his answers. He'll sit with you until you find your own.
Certified breathwork facilitator and yoga teacher. Recovery taught her that healing isn't just about quitting what hurts you, it's about learning how to live again, and she's spent years turning that into something a person can actually use. She's running a live session in the room, and you'll leave knowing how to steady yourself in any moment without anyone noticing you're doing it.
The Venue
Fraser River Discovery Centre
788 Quayside Drive, New Westminster, BC. Right on the Fraser River. Not a church basement, not a boardroom.
A great little spot in the heart of New Westminster. Walking distance from the SkyTrain and plenty of local pay parking right near the venue.
Sunday, August 30 · 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Getting Here
Fraser River Discovery Centre
788 Quayside Drive, New Westminster, BC
Doors at 8:30.
We start at 9:00, so give yourself the half hour for a coffee and a few handshakes.
Bring a reusable coffee cup with a lid.
The kind you can carry around a room without wearing it.
SkyTrain
3-minute walk from New Westminster Station on the Expo and Millennium Lines.
Parking
Pay parking at Pier West (750 Quayside), River Market (1000 Quayside), and Anvil Centre (777 Columbia St).
Ferry
Q to Q Ferry runs from Queensborough with a stop near the centre.
On Foot
Right on the New Westminster Boardwalk, steps from the River Market.
Your Ticket Includes
Brunch from Angelina's
Tim Hortons Coffee & Tea
Sharp Presentations
Real Conversation
For the Woman in His Life
Know a man who'd be better for this and would never say so? Buy him a seat. Sometimes the best thing we can do for the man we love is put the door in front of him and trust him to walk through it.
Buy Him a Seat......$25
Bring Someone
Bring someone. A friend. A brother. A dad. A son. The one who says he's fine. He won't ask to come. He'll be glad he did.
Grab Two Seats......$25 Each
$25 / Seat
You In?
One brunch. The men who decided to show up. It isn't full yet, and I can't fill it on my own. If you're coming, bring someone. If you can't come, send this to a man who should be there. We fill this one together.
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This Is Where It Starts
Bigger Than One Brunch
The Mensdate Project exists to reduce the global rate of loss by suicide......one brunch at a time. New West is the first city. Everything after this is built on what happens here. The model is built to travel: one city, one community of men at a time, and it starts here, in the city Jhöl calls home.
When you show up to this brunch, you're not just buying a ticket. You're part of the proof of concept. The men who fill this room are the reason the next city gets one too.
The food is coming from Angelina's, the place where Jhöl and his best friend Jason shared more brunches than either of them could count for over a decade. It felt right that the first one starts there.
Monthly. Right here in New West. Come once and see what happens to a room full of men when the armour comes off. Then find out how to stay at the table, and help set it for the next man who needs it. This is the New West chapter, the founding room of what's coming next.
